Pirates of the Caribbean: The Sword of Destiny
by plumsblossom
Summary: Elizabeth has been brutally murdered and Turner, out for revenge, teams up with Sparrow to find "La Espada Del Destino" before her murderer can.
1. Anguila

The dirty, old stool was hard underneath William Turner's frame. His head was in his hands, his eyes closed in pain and thought. Around him the raucous sounds of the cabaret added to the perpetual headache that had plagued Turner for weeks. He wondered for the thousandth time since Elizabeth's death what he had done to deserve this fate.  
  
Elizabeth's death. A lump formed in Turner's throat as he fought the impending depression that struggled to overcome him. Branded into his mind was the image that had greeted William as he returned from work three Tuesdays ago. Blood. Blood was everywhere. Splattered in the foyer, against the walls, the banister of the staircase slick with it. The bedroom. The nursery.  
  
A groan escaped Will's mouth as the images flew past him. He had been too late. Too late to save the servants, too late to save his love, too late to save his son. Never in his life would he forget the carnage. Elizabeth's body, bruised, battered, defiled, lying in the bed with her throat spitefully slashed open, her son laid obscenely in her arms, his own jugular matching that of his mother's.  
  
"Turner?"  
  
Will shot up, his posture straightening. The owner of the voice came around the table and sat across from him. "Aye," Will replied.  
  
"Fancy that! When they told me I thought they were whimsical, or drunk, probably both. But looks as if they were right for once!"  
  
Turner tried on a weak smile which crumbled almost instantly. "I'm glad you came."  
  
Captain Jack Sparrow waved his hand as if it were nothing. "Nothin' out of the ordinary for me, was coming back to Tortuga anyway." The pirate studied the dark-haired boy and with an almost eerie skill said, "Somethin' must be troubling you lad, to come seeking me, knowing full well I'm still wanted in every respectable establishment in the Caribbean."  
  
"Aye," Will replied again, not elaborating.  
  
Sparrow cocked an eyebrow as he took a large gulp from the tankard in front of him. "Fancy bein' a bit more explicit?"  
  
Will took in a deep breath. "I want you to help me."  
  
Jack had expected this but pretended to be surprised. "Help you? With what?" He looked at the boy, waiting for an answer. "Have you been drinking?" He added as an afterthought.  
  
"You can't tell me you haven't heard," Turner said, meeting Sparrow's eyes.  
  
Sparrow shifted his gaze uncomfortably.  
  
"You have!" Will confirmed, a gleam in his eyes.  
  
"Aye," Sparrow admitted reluctantly. "But I thought they was being fanciful, you know, talking rubbish and all that. You can't mean to tell me it's the truth!"  
  
Will shook his head, studying the burned, pock marked tabletop. Sparrow shook his head in disbelief, beads tinkling. "You're serious?" He said quietly. "She's…"  
  
A ragged breath escaped from Will's lungs as he managed to nod. Sparrow sat there, stunned. Death was a normal part of his occupation of choice. But he had never even entertained the thought that Elizabeth Turner was dead. Murdered in her bed. He couldn't believe it. Last time he had seen her she had been all done up in lace and curls, standing up for what she believed in, that irresistible sparkle lightening her eyes. Hard to believe it was only a year ago.  
  
"Did you happen to hear about Billy?" Turner's voice interrupted Jack's musings.  
  
"Who?" Sparrow asked, meeting the brown eyes of his companion.  
  
"Billy. My---" Will swallowed. "My son."  
  
Sparrow could put two and two together well enough, but he didn't want to say anything. Instead he shook his head, steadying himself for the words he knew were coming.  
  
"Killed him. The brutes killed him." A hard edge had come to Turner's voice, one that hadn't been there before. Sparrow recognized it. It was the tone of a man suppressing rage and bitterness.  
  
"I'm sorry mate," Jack said quietly.  
  
"Not as sorry as I am," Will replied acridly.  
  
Sparrow shifted again. "So, er, what is it you'd be needin' my help with?"  
  
Will stared at him. "You're not that insane, you know exactly what I want from you."  
  
Jack had been waiting for this moment and let out a long sigh, ready to convince Will that this wasn't what he truly wanted to do. However, Turner sped on before the words could form on the pirate's tongue.  
  
"Don't you try and dissuade me Jack. I'm doing it with or without you, I just figure I'd have better luck in not dying if you aided me." His eyes were hot with fervor, Jack had seen the look before. That look had taken over every time Will had promised to save Elizabeth's life, or die trying.  
  
"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," Sparrow said anyway. "You know who killed her, but you don't know the reputation behind that knave." Elizabeth's was common knowledge. Almost everyone knew of the day she had been killed brutally and in broad daylight, a message scrawled in blood on the walls left for William Turner to discover. 'Only a beginning, Anguila'.  
  
"So? I know his name, which is enough to find him and kill him."  
  
Sparrow shook his head. "You crazy nitwit. Anguila is a powerful, powerful man. No one can stop him."  
  
Will couldn't believe his ears. Captain Jack Sparrow, the most resourceful and now respected pirate of the Caribbean, was telling him things were impossible. " I can't believe you're telling me it's not possible! You got the Black Pearl back when everyone thought you were just a drunken, demented has-been."  
  
Jack winced at his words. "Easy on the slander there mate."  
  
Will apologized but continued. "He killed Elizabeth and my son. My two month old son, Jack, and I have to do something. I can't just sit back. I won't die a coward."  
  
The pain in the boy's voice touched Sparrow's well-guarded heart. He was not as dim as everyone thought. Jack knew full well that Anguila was determined to finish the job and dispose of Turner in the end. And Captain Jack Sparrow.  
  
"Do you know who Anguila is?" Sparrow repeated quietly, his defenses weakening.  
  
"He's a merchant, of sorts, or so I've heard."  
  
Sparrow let out a rough laugh. "Let me put it this way, what's Anguila's real name?"  
  
Will hesitated. He wasn't about to admit he had though that Anguila *was* the man's real name.  
  
Sparrow laughed again, but his face turned serious in a flash. "Anguila is a nickname. It means 'eel' in Spanish, lad. And he was named accordingly, the slimy, cheating, scoundrel. But his real name, well, most have forgotten that Anguila started out as humble Angus Barbosa." 


	2. La Espada Del Destino

Will's mouth opened in a shocked O. "Bar---Barbosa?" He repeated meekly.  
  
"Aye. Barbosa," Jack said, taking a drink. "Little brother to me own former first mate."  
  
Will digested this information. "But why... why a merchant? Why wasn't he a pirate like his brother?"  
  
Sparrow snorted. "That fat, lazy cad was never cut right to be a pirate. And he's not really a merchant either. Gets stolen goods from his cronies and hocks them on the black market. He may not be in the best of shape but his mind's as sharp as a ruddy pin. He knows how to manipulate and lie with the best of 'em."  
  
Will was putting the picture together. "So that's why he killed Elizabeth and Billy? For revenge?"  
  
"Aye." Sparrow stretched his legs out. "Guess he can't just sit back and watch his only remaining family be cut down by the meager likes of us."  
  
"Yes, I understand, but, I don't mean to be rude, why us? You killed Barbosa, Elizabeth and I didn't." Turner turned a light shade of pink as he subtly pointed out that Sparrow was the murderer.  
  
Jack shrugged. "You were there, you helped with the blood spilling. He figure if Elizabeth never got in the way his brother would have gone on his merry way and still be alive today."  
  
Turner nodded, knowing this was true. The information was all sinking in. "So he has a vendetta then. Out to kill me, and you."  
  
Sparrow raised his eyebrows to say that Turner had gotten it correct.  
  
"Well all the more reason for you to help me!" Will pounced. Jack sat up abruptly as Will continued. "We're in the same ship now, you and I, wouldn't it be better if we stuck together then, since he's out for us both?"  
  
"Aye, why not make it easier on him and put us both together, less traveling for him," Sparrow replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.  
  
Turner ignored him. "You already know I'm going to go after him with or without you, so why don't you just agree to help me? Don't you want to kill him? Before he kills you? You're not scared of him are you?" Will taunted Sparrow with cowardice, knowing it would get under the roughened pirate's skin.  
  
"Listen here, you don't know everything Turner," Sparrow said sharply, leaning forward and staring into the boy's eyes. "It ain't cowardice that's got me from chasing the rogue down and sticking me sword in him."  
  
"What is it then?" Will demanded, not backing down.  
  
"It's self-preservation. Anguila is searching for the most powerful weapon ever rumored to have been forged. When he gets it, because you mark my words, he will get it, I want to be hundreds of miles away, because there isn't any surviving once that thing is unleashed." Jack's eyes roamed over the crowded room as if he expected Anguila to come crashing through the walls at that very moment.  
  
Will, however, could not be reasoned with. "What weapon?"  
  
Sparrow gave an exasperated sigh and muttered some choice words under his breath. "Forget about it lad, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
  
"Try me."  
  
With a clatter Sparrow sprung from the stool, sending it to the floor. "Get up then Turner, you want to know what it is, nothing I can do to stop you. Come along." He started for the door, weaving through the boisterous crowd.  
  
"What? Where are we going?" Will asked, jogging to keep up.  
  
"To the Pearl. I can't tell you in here can I? 'Sides, once you hear about it I'm not sending you along on your merry way to go running to Commodore Norrington with your savory information."  
  
Will decided not to argue. He would never go to Norrington with any information, despite his wife's former fiancÃ©'s attempts to be cordial. He was going with Sparrow on the Pearl, which was a step, after all.  
  
///  
  
The Pearl was heading out to sea when Jack Sparrow finally entered the Captain's cabins and sat down across from Will, a serious look on his face.  
  
"So you want to know what Anguila's after then, do you?" Sparrow asked. Will nodded eagerly. "You won't be so excited once I've told you," Sparrow said pointedly, the continued. "I don't expect you've heard of it, but pirates have. It's a deadly weapon, most just call it the Unnamed, but it's proper names is 'La Espada del Destino'." He stopped, looking at Will to see if this had made any impression. From the blank look on Turner's face it obviously had not.  
  
"The Sword of Destiny, mate. Most say it's a myth, but you and I both know myths have an uncanny ability to be founded in truth. The Sword is lethal. It'll kill anyone it's blade pricks. And do you know why?"  
  
Turner shook his head.  
  
"The Sword of Destiny, put it together mate. What's every man's destiny?" A blank from Turner pushed Sparrow on in an annoyed air. "Thought you're supposed to be clever. Every mortal man's destiny is to die, savvy?"  
  
Comprehension dawned on Will's face as he nodded.  
  
"That sword, no matter what part of the body it draws blood from, no matter how deep the wound, will kill the stabbed. Period. The end. 's not something you'd want to be shavin' with, if you catch my line here."  
  
"So, Anguila wants to find this sword just to kill us? Why doesn't he just do it with a regular sword?" Turner asked slowly.  
  
"Ah, let me finish then lad. Now, I suppose I went a bit far by saying death. 'Cause for all reasons the person stabbed ain't very dead, in the regular sense of the word. Nay, if you're punctured by La Espada del Destino you'll be stuck in the ether, meaning, the space between the mortal world and the world of the dead, for the rest of eternity."  
  
Will gulped.  
  
"Aye, it isn't a very pleasant thought, especially when your time spent there will be in eternal pain and suffering."  
  
"Why didn't get it before he killed Elizabeth then? Why wait until now?" Turner asked.  
  
"I guess he's supposing it's mostly our faults his big brother is dead, seein' as I did the stabbing And you made with the spilling your blood over the gold." Jack stood up, staring out the glass windows, now sparkling clean, at the black ocean.  
  
This made sense to Will. "Well, there's only one thing to do then," he stated after a bit.  
  
Sparrow turned around with a grin on his face. "Exactly. So me, you and the crew are heading north to spend some time in the arctic for a bit."  
  
"Jack."  
  
"I'll give them the orders now. Straight north, here we go."  
  
"Jack!"  
  
"Glad you thought this through Will, I halfway expected you to still got through with this featherbrained scheme of yours---"  
  
"JACK!"  
  
Sparrow turned to stare at Will, who was also standing now. "We're not running away."  
  
Jack swallowed. "Nay, we're sailing away..."  
  
Turner didn't crack a smile. "The only thing left to do is find the Sword before Anguila can, and kill him with it instead."  
  
"I was afraid you'd say that," Captain Jack Sparrow replied, sinking down into a chair and laying his head on the tabletop with a defeated sigh. 


	3. Atlantis

"So," Will said, sitting back in his chair, that determined light in his dark eyes. "Where do we go find this 'Espedo Destinino' device?"  
  
"'Espada del Destino' mate, and I've already told you we can't do it." Sparrow was pouring himself some scotch though he had already had a few tankards full of rum earlier in the evening.  
  
"We can and you know it. Now where is it?"  
  
Sparrow realized that Turner wasn't going to shut up until he heard. He gave an exaggerated sigh, sat down in the captain's hair, propped his booted feet on the table, and said, "Well, ya really want to know then?" Turner nodded enthusiastically. "Fine then. Atlantis. The Lost City of Atlantis."  
  
"What?!" Turner almost yelled. "Poppycock! The Lost City of Atlantis is a myth, everybody knows that!"  
  
"Aye, but everyone thinks the Sword of Destiny is a myth as well. Moreover, don't you yell at me. I bloody well told you the whole affair was nonsense, but nooo, no one listens to Captain Jack Sparrow. Let's all forget how he won back the Black Pearl from the damnable Barbosa only to break the curse and send Barbosa to a well-deserved death. No, that's not important at all!" He continued his litany of complaints under his breath until Will hit his fist on the table.  
  
"Would you stop all your incessant babble! For God's sake man!" Sparrow closed his mouth and looked at William with a startled expression. "Thank you. Now, you're positive this Sword is in Atlantis?"  
  
"As positive as one can be when something like this is involved."  
  
Will pensively sat in the chair, mumbling to himself quietly. "Atlantis, why, that's the stuff fairy tales are made of. Me mum used to tell me about Atlantis as a bedtime story. An island as large as Europe, well advanced for its time, sunk to the bottom of the ocean by natural disaster after natural disaster. And all because the gods were jealous of it. It can't be true."  
  
Sparrow had finished his drink and was now pouring another one. Numbing himself to the fact William Turner was out to find a fabled sword and could not be deterred seemed to be the best plan. "Well 'tis. Now will you please just give up this half-witted scheme of yours. We can kill Anguila without the Sword lad."  
  
As expected, Turner shook his head. "He already has a head start on us, we have to find it before he does. Don't you get it Jack? He deserves that awful half-life for what he's done to my family. I won't settle for anything less." Sparrow accepted this and made a decision to stop trying to hinder William's plans. It obviously was coming to no avail. Better just to humor the boy.  
  
"So, how do we get to Atlantis?" Turner asked, looking expectantly at Jack. He was dismayed to hear Jack's coarse laugh.  
  
"Hell if I know. I said I knew where it was, but I haven't got a clue how to get there." Sparrow had a nice laugh to himself at Will's expense, managing to choke out words like "Where is it?" and "Bottom of the ocean!" between guffaws.  
  
When he was finished Will threw Jack a sharp gaze and said, "Well, someone's got to know. If you don't, then it's likely Anguila doesn't, and so, maybe we're not so behind after all."  
  
At that moment the door opened and Gibbs walked in. "Your pardons cap'n, I was just passing and I thought yeh might be needin' something. Can I get yeh anything? Or perhaps something for you Will?"  
  
Jack shook his head but Will said, "Well actually, maybe you could help us Gibbs." Gibbs walked further into the room, ready to do whatever it was that they needed. "See, we're trying to find this Sword, and it's in the Lost City of Atlantis. We don't know where Atlantis is, but, maybe you've heard something? Living in Tortuga all those years?"  
  
Gibbs eyes widened. "You're not lookin' for the Unnamed are yeh?" He asked hesitantly.  
  
"Yes, we are."  
  
Gibbs made the sign of the cross, though he was not one for religion. "That's a bad mistake boy, yeh don't want to go off lookin' for a piece like that. It's a fools errand 'tis."  
  
"Exactly what I've been trying to get through his thick skull," Jack mumbled from the bar, where he was pouring yet another glass of scotch.  
  
"Well it doesn't matter, because I'm going to find it no matter what, so you might as well help me," Will said to the older man, wishing everyone would just lay off with the warnings.  
  
Gibbs gulped. "Well, uh, about Atlantis, I ain't got no clue, but, there was this man, I think his name was Bart or somethin' to that effect, but anyway, he came to Tortuga a while back full of mad ramblings about Atlantis. We all thought him a crazy bat and ran him off the island."  
  
Will took all this in. "And this... Bart, where did he go?"  
  
"Well, last we heard, a sailor came back from El Sur and had some story about running into Old Bart again, we all had a nice laugh and a few drinks."  
  
"Hmm, and El Sur, is this an island?" Will was getting an idea, Sparrow could tell. He wished Gibbs had never walked in and started this conversation, because now Will had a little fodder for the flame.  
  
"Sure is, in fact, we pretty close to it now." Gibbs looked quite pleased with himself.  
  
"Right then, we need to go there and see if this Bart is still around. Jack? Did you hear? Let's go." Will looked at Sparrow, who was studying the lamplight reflected in his glass with an interested gaze.  
  
"What? Oh, right then, to El Sur we go, you heard him Gibbs, start to it." Sparrow had accepted in finality that Turner was not going to give up until it was proven a final impossibility that Atlantis could not be reached.  
  
Gibbs left the room with the orders and Will turned to Jack. "I really do appreciate this Jack, honestly."  
  
Jack waved his hands limply. "I owe you one don't I? After all, you kept that idiot Norrington away for a while, letting us escape into the distance. Did I tell you where we went? Ah, it was a dream, off to the sunny south. We met some nice Indians we did, the crew and I. There was this one dame, hell if I can pronounce her name, let me tell you about her..." Jack's voice floated off into silence as his head lowered to the table and he fell asleep.  
  
Will sighed. He took the glass from Sparrow and returned it to the bar. He sat back down in his seat across from Jack, staring at the pirate's slouched form. For a few hours, Will's heart hadn't ached and his brain had stopped thinking about Elizabeth. For a few hours, it was as if he had purpose in life again.  
  
What was he saying? He did have a purpose. He was going to find that Sword and kill Anguila with it. For Elizabeth, for the life they could never have. For the life his son could never have. And he was never going to regret it. 


End file.
